Antique Charles Vos Ape Monkey Holland Dutch Sculptor Petrus Maastricht Ragout

Description

This sculpture of a monkey is designed by Charles Vos (1888-1954). The work is made of glazed stoneware and is manufactured by De Sphinx around 1930. This earthenware factory was founded by Petrus Regout in Maastricht in 1836. The bottom of the sculpture is marked with the factory stamp of Petrus Regout & Co. The sculpture is depicted in the Zoo Antwerp catalog, '150 white ceramic animals', ESCO, Antwerp, 1993, pp. 98-99. This piece measures 7" in height and 6" across (at the widest part).
The company used the particular marking that is on the bottom of this piece starting in 1883.
The Royal Sphinx factory was located in Maastricht, Holland. First, he started a glass factory. Two years later production of pottery began. Pottery production was initially concentrated on so called faience commune - simple pottery for a local market.
Production gradually was adapted to higher standards thanks to hired British specialists to compete with popular British creamware. Petrus sons were incorporated to management of the company. The company name was then changed to Petrus Regout & Co.
In 1879 the image of the sphinx started to be used as a company mark and logo. Since 1899 the company was called De Sphinx. In 1958 the company merged with Société Ceramique and changed name to N.V. Sphinx-Céramique. Since 1960 thanks to a royal decision, a name was changed into Royal Sphinx. In 1994 the company was overtaken by Swedish firm Gustavsberg and the name changed to NV Koninklijke Sphinx Gustavsberg.
In 1997 a tile division was separated to be an independent company. It went bankrupt in 2008. The Sphinx itself was bought in 1999 by the Finnish Sanitec. In 2010 the Maastricht plant was closed down and production moved to Swedish Sanitec plant.